Capping machine



June 13, 1944. H. MAIR CAPPING MACHINE Filed May 22, 1941- 5 Sheets-#Shet 1 June 13, 1944. H. MAI R GAPPING MACHINE Filed May 22, 1941' 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 mi m Q1 LTUr-TLQr June 13, 1944. H. mm

CAPPING MACHINE Filed May 22, 1941 June 13, 1944. H. MAIR CAPPING MACHINE 5 Sheets Sheet 4 Filed May 22, 1941 June 13, 1944;

H. MAIR CAPPI-NG MACHINE Filed May 22, 1941 5 Sheets$heet 5 TCCQ Patented June 13, 1944 CAPPING MACHINE Hugh Mair, Cranford, N. J., 'assignor to The Distillers Company Limited, Linden, N. J., a

corporation ofDelaware Application May 22, 1941, Serial No. 394,570

9 Claims. (Cl. 226 -81) This invention relates to improvements in capping machines, and particularly to machines for sealing liquid containers, the principal object of the invention being to provide a machine of this character in which the capping operation is automatically controlled by the container being sealed, the operation being performed without jarring the container or spilling its contents.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine specially adapted for sealing containers having lever-type closures, the lever-actuating mechanism being automatically operated.

A further object of the invention is to simplify the general construction of a machine 'of the character set forth and :at the same time to provide a machine which is time-saving and economical in operation and of maximum productive capacity.

Other objects and-advantages of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.

In the drawings accompanying this specification,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a machine constructed in accordance with the present invention, parts being shown in section;

' Fig. 2 is-a'front elevation of themachine shown in Fig. 1, portions being broken away;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation showing on a larger scale a portion of the mechanism shown in Fig.2

and also showing a container approaching the capping position;

Figs. 4 and 5 are partly sectional detail side views illustrating the capping mechanism indifferent positions during its operation;

'Fig. 6 is a partly sectional plan View of the machine taken on linelF-B of Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is a detail perspectiveview 'of a special lever assembly for initiatingthe operation of the capping mechanism; and

Fig.8 is a similar perspective'view showing the pressure block and the associated cam ears -for controlling the tongue member for locking'the bottle cap in sealing position upon the neck of the bottle.

Referring to the drawings, I designates-generally the frame of the machine, above which is supported a'hopper 2 communicating at its lower end with a chute 3 for supplying caps to be 'secured on the bottles brother containers :as they arrive at the proper position. "On the "front wall of the machine frame is supported an =L-shaped bracket forming a rest plate or container support bevelled at opposite sides thereof toextendpartially over a pair of rollers or pulleys '5 and "6 mounted for rotation on stud shafts 1 andB' se-' cured in the front wall of the machine frame, said pulleys carrying travelling. conveyors 9 and t0 respectively in alinement with each other across the container support 4. Also secured, on the front wall of the machine frame, but spaced therefrom byinterposed blocks II, is a guide bar I2 :of L-shape in cross section, said guide bar being disposed 'at such a distance above the rest plate 4 that the horizontal portion of the guide bar is spaced'from' the rest plate a distance slightly less than the height of the container to be capped.

coincidentally pivoted at 13 on the horizontal portion of the guide bar I! and in superimposed relation to each other are a pair of levers hi and I5, the lowermost lever l4 having a camlortion I l the:cam edge of which normally projects beyond the edge of the-horizontal portion of the guide bar, as indicated in broken lines in Fig. 6, and intersects a vertical linepassing approximately through the center of the container support 4 in position to be engaged by successive containers as they pass from the conveyor 9 to the container 'support, as hereinafter more fully described. The lever -15 is of less width than the lever l4 and carries an adjustable contact pin l8 for contact with a similar pin carried by a microswitch 19 secured to the vertical back portion of the guide bar 12. A bell-crank lever I6 pivotally mounted, as at ilon a portion M extending laterally from thelever I4 .is provided with a downwardly extending flange It the inner surface of which normally lies contiguous to the front edge of the lever I4, said flange serving to engage the edge of lever 15 during the inward movement of lever I4 thereby to ensure sufiicient movement of lever 15 with lever Hi to bring about substantial contact of the pin Iii with microswitch [9. YA spring 20 secured at oneend to the bent up end-of a bracket M -extending laterally from the guide bar I2 and at its opposite end to a pin carried by the lever I4 at the end thereof opposite from the cam portion M serves to return the levers l4 and 15 to normal position 7 after operationin the :manner hereinafter described.

Mounted for sliidng movement vertically on the front wall of the machine frame is a pressure device, which comprises a capping head 2| disposed above the guide bar [2, said capping head by means of a link 29 to the armature 39 of the I solenoid 26. At its forward end the lever 28 carries a depending link 3|, to the lower end of I which is pivoted a depending. tongue-like member 32. Formed on the forwardend ofthe'icapping head, at opposite sides thereof, are a pair or ears 2|; between which the member 32 is vertically slidable, said ears being provided with cam slots in which are guided pins 33 extending laterally from the member 32. Pivoted on one side of the capping head 2| is a three-armed lever 34, having a flange'34 at the'lower' end of itsvertical arm inposition to engage the bell'crank I6 when the lever 34 has been swung on its pivot, thereby to swing the bell crank-on its pivot and move the flange Iii out of the path of lever I5 after actuation of the microswitch I9. For actuating the lever 34, the pivot pin 35 connecting the member 32 with the link 3| is elongated sothat it extends through the cam slot at that side of the capping head on which the lever 34 is located and one arm of said lever extends across said cam slot into the path of said pin 35 whereby: as the pin moves downward in the cam slot it will engage the lever 34 and swing it on its pivot as shown in Fig. 5.

Pivotally supported on a lug 36.near the lower end of the machine frame is a crossbar 31, the front end of which projects through the wall of the machine frame and is pivotally secured as at 38- to the press'urebar 22, as shown in Fig. 1. The crossbar 31 is further pivotally connected near its rear end as at 39 with the armature of a solenoid 40 suitably supportedin the machine. A second micro switch 4| is mounted on the rear wall of the machine frame in position to be operated by a pin 42 carried by the crossbar 31 when said crossbar is swung upward on its pivot, a compression spring 43 being disposed between the armature and the crossbar 31 to cushion the impact of the pin 42 against the pin of micro switch'4l. A pair of magnetic switches conventionally illustrated at 44 and 45 herein are suitably mounted at any convenient part of the machine frame. These switches may be of any well known double-pole type. As shown Fig. 1 both switches are provided with a pair of movable circuit-closing members a normally in opencircuit position and a solenoid 'b which when energized will attract said members to circuit closing position. The poles of switch'44 are connected by wires 46 and 41 noid b and with the micro-switch I9-supported on the guide bar l2, lead wires 54 and 55 from a suitable source of current being also connected with said poles. The circuit-closing members a in said switch 44 are connected to binding posts which in turn are connected'by wires 48', 49 with the .electrom'agnet 40. The'poles of switch 45 are connected by wires 50, in series with its solenoid b and with the micro s witchfl, lead wires 56, 51 from a suitable source of current being also connected with saidpoles. The circuit-closing members a in switch 45 are 'also connected to binding posts 0 which in turn are connected by wires 52, 53 with the solenoid 26.

The operation of the machine is as follows:

With the machine at rest, both of the microswitches I9 and 4| are open. Fig. 3 shows a bottle 58 which has been moved by the feed conveyor 9, so that approximately half of its width is over the container support 4. At this point the neck of the bottle is in the proper position to engage the foremost cap 59 at the lower end of the chute 3 so that as the bottle progresses further on to the support it will take the cap along with it. A

butterfly damper pivoted as at 60 on the guide bar I2 near the end of the chute 3 serves to check "the flow of caps at the delivery end of the chute.

i which the pivot pin 60 passes, said bushing havin series with its sole-1 ing a pair of radially extending arms 62, 63, and a segmental stop portion 64 formed integrally therewith. Normally the arm 63 extends across the lower end of the chute and the segmental portion 64 abuts against the free end of a flat spring 65 secured at its opposite end on the guide bar I2, as shown in broken lines in Fig. 6, thereby to retain the caps remaining in the chute after removal of the leading cap by a passing bottle. In practice, the arm 62 is acted upon by a spring in order to swing the damper back to normal position after the removal of eachsucceeding cap, said spring being omitted from the drawings for the sake of clarity, since the damper and its special arrangement of return spring are not claimed as a part of the invention. Now assuming that the conveyors 9 and II] are traveling in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3 and that the conveyor 9 supports a continuous row of filled bottles placed side by side thereon, it will be readily seen that the foremost bottle will be pushed forward over the support 4 by the bottles following. As the bottle moves forward over the support its neck contacts with the cam portion I4 of lever I4 and causes that lever to move inward on its pivot, carrying with it the lever I5 until its pin I8 comes into contact with the corresponding pin contact of microswitch I9, as shown in Fig. 6, thus preventing further movement of lever I5 with lever I4, so that the continued inward movement of lever I4 will cause lever I5 to move on its pivot in the opposite direction until the edge of its free end contacts with the flange |6 whereby the lever I5 is again moved with lever I4 during the short further movement of the latter necessary to cause the pin I8 of lever I5 to impinge against the flexible contact pin of the micro-switch with sufiicient firmness to operate the switch and close the circuit through magnetic switch 44 and electromagnet 49. The movement of levers I4 and I5 is such that the micro-switch I9 is closed when the bottle with the loose cap thereon is immediately below the capping head 2|. Upon the closing of microswitch I9, current will fiowthrough wires 55 and 41 to said microswitch andback through wire 46, solenoid b of magnetic switch 44, and wire 54 to the source. The said solenoid b being'thus energized attracts the members a of magnetic switch 44 to circuit-closing position, whereupon current passes from lead wire 55 through one of the members m, wire 49, electromagnet 49 and back through wire48, secondcircuit-closing member a of magnetic switch 44, and lead wire 54 to the source. The electromagnet 49 is thereby energized its plunger. armature is raised and by means of its connection 39 with the crossbar 31 moves said'crossbar on the pin 42 at the rear. end. ofthecrossbartl engages the corresponding. pin of the microswitch 4} thus closing saidmicroswitch and causing current. to flow through wiresSJ and M to the microswitch 4| and back through wire 59,

solenoid b of magnetic switch 4 and Wire 5? tothe source. 'Ijhe said; solenoid: b; being thus energized, attracts the, members, a of; magnetic switch 45 into, circuit-closing position, whereupon current will flow through wire 51, one of the contact members a of ,magnetic switch 45, wire solenoid 26 and back through. wire 53, second circuit-closing member a ofmagnetic switch andlead wire 56 to the source. The solenoid 26 being thus energized, itsplunger armature rises, thereby. moving the lever,28 on its, pivot and causing the depending member, to movedownward. intoengagement with the upturned lever of the bottle cap and forcesaid leverdown to locked position as indicated in Fig. 5. During the downward movementof the depending member 32 the projecting endof its pivot pin 35 has engaged'thelever 34;,andswung it on its pivot so that by the time. the. depending member has reachedits' lowermost position the lever 34 has swung the bell crank, I6 sufficientlyto carry its flange 16. out of.the-path of the lever l5, which remains immobile untilthecapped container is forced ofil the restplate. and on to, thedelivery conveyor byv the containers following, whereupon the lever I4 is snappedback tonormal position by its spring 20, carryingwith it the lever I 5 and thus breaking contact with microswitch IQ and de-energizing the electromagnet 40, so that the armature of said electromagnetv drops, carrying with it the end of the crossbarS'land permitting.

return of the capping head. to. normal position under the action of the weight of the. plunger and lever 31. This movement of the crossbar 31 also carries its pin out of contact with the microswitch 4| andconsequently.de-energizing, the solenoid- 26, thus permitting its. plunger. to

drop thereby swinging thelever28 on its pivot and returning the depending tongue. member to its normal raised position.

In certain bottle capping. machines, heretofore.

in u'sewith which Iamiamiliar, the containers were fed to and-discharged ..from the machine by a pair of conveyors traveling in laterallydisplaced parallel paths between which was mounted a reciprocable rest plate. In theoperation of such machines the feeding conveyondelivers the containers, one after the other, onto the rest plate, which is then moved forward at right angles to the feed conveyor to carry the container under the cap chute, capping head and capping mechanism. After the cap has been sealed, special discharge mechanism pushes the capped container on to the discharge conveyor, the rest plate returning to its original position where it pauses while the next container is pushed on to it by the weight of the containers following. In certain other machines that have been proposed, although provided with feed and discharge conveyors disposed in longitudinal alinement with each other, the rest plate or work support is vertically reciprocable to carry the container to the capping mechanism, which is actuated by complicated mechanical devices that are set in operation after the arrival of a container at the cycle is available for placing'the container on 5 the restplate. This necessitates. a rather high conveyor speed. and a. considerable. number of containers on the feedconveyorin order topush the first container on tothe rest plate in time. Moreover, a. fixed stopper must be providedf to 10 limit the movement of the,container. to the proper position. on the restplatetqhaye the cap com pressed thereon, and, the suddenness with which the containerv isv broughtv up against this, stopper invariably jars the container. to such an extent- 15, as to cause spilling of thecontents and wettin theouter surface of the container. This wetting causes trouble in the labeling machines, making it necessary to removea considerablev number of spoiled labels, thereby. appreciably cutting, down 2 production. To overcomethisloss. it was,nec es sary to have an operatorv take careof. thQ-spillage p m by oldin a. owe ver hecbntaine s on the feed conveyor of the capping machine. This method, while. efifectiveinstopping spillage, 25, is inefiicient, and thereisthe possibility of lint from the towel getting, intothe container.

The machine herein'described, avoids the dis advantages above pointed out by providingamachine havingv a fixedcontainersupport incombination with feed and dischargeconveyors,dis; posed in alinement with each other across the container support and in whichtheentire c p: ping operation is accomplished by the mere .clos-.

ing of a circuit through a solenoid, whereby, the

containers pass fromthe feed conveyor ontothe container support, have their caps sealed in negligible time, as the movement of the solenoid plungers is.instantaneous, afterwhich the. c one tainers pass from the. container support to,the,

40. delivery conveyor, the entire. course, of travel of the container from thefeedconveyor to thedelivery conveyor being in. a "straight line whereby the,

capping operation. is accomplished without, any jarring or spillagewhatever. Bythe use of this 15 construction the conveyor. speed. required is not more than one-fourth that of the, old machines, and due to the elimination of jarring/and consequent spilling it is unnecessary to have a towel operator at the. machine. and. consequently. the

possibility of foreign material getting intothe 60, electromagnet including an 'armaturelconnected.

to the capping head to move the latter in capping direction, means to move the capping head in the o osite direction, a container actuated trip to energize said electromagnet, and means actuated by movement of the capping head in a capping direction to de-energize the electromagnet.

2. In a capping apparatus, a container support, a capping head reciprocable abov the container support, an electromagnet includin an armature connected to the capping head to move the latter in capping direction, a micro-switch operable to close a circuit through said electromagnet, a container-actuated trip to actuate said micro-switch to circuit-closing position, means actuated by movement of the capping head in capping direction to open said circuit'thereby to de-energi ze the electromagnet, and means for returning the capping head'to its initial position. Y

3. In a capping a capping head reciprocable above the container support, an electrocmagn'et "including an armature connected to the capping head to move the latter in capping direction,'a magnetic switch electrically connected with-said electromagnet, means operable to close a 'circuit'through said magneticswitch thereby to energize'the electromagnet, a container-actuated trip to operate said circuit-closing means, means actuated by movement of the capping head in capping direction to open said circuit thereby to de-energize the electromagnet, and'means for moving the capping head in the opposite direction.

4. In a capping apparatus, a container support, a capping head reciprocable above the container support, an electromagnet including an armature connected to the capping head to move the latter in capping direction, a magnetic switch electrically connected with said electromagnet, a micro-switch in electrical connection with said magnetic switch, a container-actuated trip to operate said micro-switch thereby to close a circuit through the magnetic switch and energize the electromagnet, means actuated by movement of the capping head in capping direction to open said circuit and de-energize the electromagnet,

and means for returning the capping head to its initial position. s

r 5. In a capping machine, a container support, a vertically reciprocable capping head above said support, a pivotally mounted bar pivotally connected to said head and normally retaining the same in its uppermost position, an' electromagnet including an armature pivotally connected to said bar for moving the same on its pivot thereby to move the capping head in capping direction, means for energizing said electromagnet, a container-actuated trip to actuate said means, and means actuated by movement of the capping head in capping direction to de-energize the electromagnet and permit return of the capping head to its initial position under the action of said bar.

6. In a capping machine, a container support, a vertically reciprocable capping head above said support, a pivotally mounted bar pivotally connected to said head and normally retaining the same in its uppermost position, an electromagnet including an armature pivotally connected to said bar for moving the same on its pivot thereby to move the capping head in capping direction, a micro-switch operable to close a circuit through said electromagnet thereby to energize the same, container-actuated means to ac tuate said micro-switch, and means actuated by apparatus, a container support,

movement'of the capping head'incapping direction to deenergize the electromagnet and permit return of the capping head to its initial position by the action of said pivoted bar.

- 7. In a capping machine, a container support, a vertically reciprocabl capping head above said support, a pivotally mounted bar pivotally connected to said head and normally retaining the same in its uppermost position, an electromagnet including an armature pivotally connected to said bar for moving the same on its pivot thereby to move'the capping head in capping direction, a magneticswitch electrically connected with said electromagnet, a micro-switch electrically connected with said magnetic switch and operable to close a circuit through said magnetic switch and electromagnet, a pivoted lever hav- 'ing means for actuating said micro-switch, contamer-actuated means to operate said lever into operative engagement with the micro-switch, and means actuated by movement of the capping head in capping direction to de-energize the electromagnet and permit return of the capping head to its initial position by the action of said pivoted bar.

8. In a capping machine, a container support, a vertically reciprocable capping head above said support, a pivotally mounted bar pivotally connected to said head and normally retaining the same in its uppermost position, an electromagnet including an armature'pivotally connected to said bar for-moving the same on its pivot thereby to move the capping head in capping direction, a magnetic switch electrically connected with said electromagnet, a micro-switch electrically connected with said magnetic switch and operable to close a circuit through said magnetic switch and electromagnet, a pivoted lever having means for actuating said micro-switch, a second pivoted lever having means for actuating said first lever into operative engagement with the micro-switch, container actuated means to actuate said second lever, and means actuated by movement of the capping head in capping direction to de-energize the electromagnet and permit return of all of the members to their initial positions under the action of said bar.

9. In a capping machine as set forth in claim 1, means carried by the capping head to engage and swing the lever of alever-type cap into clamping position, a pivoted lever pivotally connected at one end thereof to said means, a second electromagnet having an armature pivotally connected to the opposite end of said lever, and means-operative during movement of the capping head in capping direction to energize said second electromagnet prior to de-energization of the first electromagne-t.

HUGH MAIR; 

